Amidst the Rubble
by masserect
Summary: In the ruins of Inaba, Kanji encounters a girl in pink. Persona 4 bad end what-if, filling a request for "anything with Kanji and Yukari."


This was requested and written long before Atlus started crossing the games over on their own. Note that it's unfinished and probably never _will_ be finished - although I do think it's an interesting idea and would like to revisit it at some point.

* * *

The shadow seems mostly blind as it slowly shuffles along the rubble-strewn path - a large, shapeless blob with no face to speak of. It looks slow and harmless, but he knows better.

Outrunning it would be difficult, even if the roads weren't full of rubble.

He still doesn't know how it senses him, but it definitely knows. Probably not sound, he's quiet enough, but maybe scent. It's been days since he had a proper bath.

As it comes closer, he tightens his grip on the iron bar he picked up a little earlier. He's tired from fighting, tired from running, and because _he_ is worn out, so is Rokuten-Maoh. But no one is going to be able to say that Kanji Tatsumi went down without a fight.

The shadow has reached the bottom of the stairs. He wishes he'd never seen them, that he had just kept going down the street, but no, it had seemed like such a good idea. Hide in the ruined building, that can't fail.

 _Right_. Except he didn't expect the building to be _that_ ruined.

Every exit blocked. And now he's stuck.

He eases himself around to the side, raises his weapon to strike as soon as it sticks a tentacle through the door.

But what comes next is not the slithering of a shadow sliding up the concrete staircase, but a howling wind.

Almost concealed by the storm, there is a sharp, piercing noise, like a keen weapon rending flesh, and the wind begins to fade.

"Are you still alive?"

A woman's voice - unfamiliar. He peers around the corner. The shadow is gone.

Someone is approaching, slowly. He hears light footsteps on the gravel, but they stop before he can see anything.

"Who are you?" he asks, leaning a little further out. Still nothing.

"Just come out."

She sounds annoyed. Well, if she got rid of the shadow, he supposes it's safe enough. He descends the staircase, bent almost double so he'll get a look at the intruder as soon as possible.

The first thing he sees is the shadow that was following him - slumped against a wall, pierced with a shiny-tipped silver arrow, unmoving. They disappear slower in reality, but it's already started disintegrating. In a few minutes, there will be nothing left.

Then the stranger steps into view, holding a slender golden longbow, half drawn and with a silver arrow nocked - just like the one stuck in the shadow, its tip glittering like a diamond.

It's a girl, or a young woman, with shoulder-length brown hair; a faded pink cardigan over a black bodysuit, armoured like something out of a science fiction film. She gives him a sharp look, clear brown eyes, the same colour as her hair, but a few shades darker.

"Yukari Takeba," she says, and tucks the arrow in a quiver at her hip. "You're Tatsumi, right?"

He starts. "How'd you know?"

"I ran into a guy before, Yosuke Hanamura? He gave me a description."

It makes sense. He's the only one left who could possibly fit that description. He nods and holds out his hand. "Yeah, you're right. Kanji Tatsumi."

She looks at him for a few moments before she takes it, and there is a _jolt_ between them.

"Persona user, huh...?"

She rolls her eyes and rubs her hand, bow tucked under her arm. "He did say you were dense. How many others have you seen lately?"

He chuckles, despite himself. She spoke to Yosuke alright. "Yeah, I guess you'd be a shadow, too, otherwise. Just a little surprised to find someone else like us."

She makes a wry face. "You're not the only one. They said it wasn't the first time those with such powers emerged, but I thought..."

She shakes her head, as if to disperse an unpleasant thought. "Never mind. We should get going before more get here. I have friends waiting near the old school building... Yasogami, right?"

He nods, and takes the lead. The path to Yasogami High - it feels like a hundred years ago, but it's still there, just like he remembers it, even though the river is dry and the trees and bushes have wilted. Dry grass rustles as they walk, constantly looking out for an attack that could come from above or below, from anywhere around them.

If these friends of hers can come up with something, he's more than willing to hear them out.

He just hopes it's not altogether too late.


End file.
